Chef Menteur is playing the 2-day Mermaid Lounge Reunion Festival on Saturday afternoon (3pm), December 10th, at the Truck Farm in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. The band has not played a show in 4 years, but has continued to get together weekly and work on and record new material. They will be performing a set of never-heard music that they've been working on for some time. Since they last performed live, they've changed out one member and the current lineup is: Alec Vance, Dan Haugh, Phil Rollins, and B. Aubrey Freeman.

Chef Menteur's new double LP "East of the Sun & West of the Moon" will be released on March 31 and they're doing a show to celebrate. LPs are limited to 200 copies and jacket covers are gatefold and block-printed by hand on all 4 sides. If you can't make it to the show you can also pre-order a copy here.

Also playing will be the Lonely Lonely Knights, Microshards, and BPR compatriots Geisterfahrer.

Chef Menteur will be doing a secret outdoor show for our friends and supporters at sunset on the rooftop of a warehouse in Mid-city New Orleans. This will be a fun casual party with our own homemade barbecue and beer, and Chef Menteur will play a full set. We'll also use this to shoot the end of a DIY music video we're working on. Anyone who pledges at any level gets an invite.(free)More info

Cloudland Canyon -- "far out krautrock vibe, some classic long lost, extra damaged super freaked out sixties or seventies psychedelia, but filtered through modern technology" (according to Aquarius Records) with records on two of our all-time favorite labels Kranky and Holy Mountain. (myspace)

Chef Menteur -- It's been 2 years since New Orleans' long-running ambient/experimental project has played live: they just finished 3+ years in the studio recording their new double album. They return as a 4-piece with material from the new album: heavy neo-psychedelia, eastern drones, and proggy space rock. (Backporch Revolution (band site) (myspace)More info

Dan Haugh and Andrew Dalio's debut as Polymos. There will be: banjo, bass, Moog, piano, liquor, and maybe even harp and tenor recorder. There will definitely be a good time! Booze will be here, but you should prob bring yr own mixers/snax. So enjoy a cocktail party and the debut of Polymos!

The deafening 3-headed doom dragon of noise/drone, King Ghidorah will be playing NoizeFest. This year's roster will include 3 current and former Chef Menteur members: Alec Vance, Dan Haugh and Bryan Killingsworth.

Archipelago, Backporch Revolution's electro-acoustic drone ensemble in the freak folk domain will be opening for guitar stylist/virtuoso and world traveler Sir Richard Bishop of the legendary Sun City Girls.

Sir Richard Bishop has just completed a groundbreaking album entitled The Freak of Araby, which sees him revisiting his Middle Eastern roots. Electric guitar, Moroccan chanters, bass, and heavy percussion are the instruments of choice for this one. Half of the songs on this new release are original pieces by SRB and the remaining half consists of traditional North African folk songs as well as compositions by Elias Rahbani, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, and others. The new LP was released by Drag City on May 26, 2009.

Also playing will be Oaxaca from Oakland, California and Backporch Revolution's own Archipelago.

Antigravity puts these on annually and as before, Backporch Revolution will have a table with everything from our entire catalog that isn't completely out of print, including some rarities.($5)More info

In one of its increasingly rare live appearances (the first since last June) , Chef Menteur will be playing WTUL's 50th birthday party at the Balcony Music Club on Esplanade Avenue (corner of Decatur St. in the former El Matador spot).

For this show we're doing a brand new set of material (including our first-ever cover, a 1960's British sci-fi classic, see chefmenteur.org for hints). Dan Haugh will forsake the drum kit in favor of Moog and electric banjo; also Alec Vance on guitar and Rhodes electric piano; and Brian Abbott in 2001: a bass odyssey.

Other bands appearing will be Big Blue Marble and the Tomatoes. The show starts at 10pm with the Tomatoes, then Big Blue Marble at 11, and finally Chef Menteur at 12.

This is a fund-raiser for WTUL 91.5 FM (Tulane University) and your ticket price also gets you into Cafe Negril, the other nearby venue where Glorybee, Arajay, Broken Smokes, and Player/Kommander featuring James Hall will be playing.

Come see the debut of Liteworks -- the solo project of Mike Mayfield (Electrical Spectacle, The Buttons and occasionally Chef Menteur). For this show Mike has drafted Alec Vance (Chef Menteur), Joey Keppel (Buttons) and Mike Jones (Belong) for an evening of blissed-out drones, oscillating filter sweeps, micro modulations and phaser tweaking reminiscient of the ambient "kosmische" side of krautrock bands such as Harmonia, Cluster, Faust, and Popol Vuh mixed in with a bit of Raymond Scott and other early electronics pioneers.

Buttons will play an outdoor party at The Brickyard as part of a two day dusk till dawn art and music extravaganza presented by KK Projects - The Life is Art Foundation. Located on the site will be The Conceptual Bar with drinks by Alan Walter, art by Louise Riley, and concerts by DJ Matty (10/31) Buttons (11/01). Also at the site: Gabriel Penabaz will be performing private ceremonies in which the participant marries themself. Homemade Parachute will be constructing one of their fantastical and crazy instillations. Part of Tony Oursler’s city wide video project which focuses on the youth of the St. Roch neigborhood will be displayed at the Brickyard. Anne Sendstad’s video "Light Writes Always in Plural" will be projected. The Neon Sign counterpart to this piece will be displayed on the outside of the Elysium. Elliot Coon will create a river of fire and a house of mirrors. Geroge Hargreaves will plant a fragrant orange grove. Generic Art Solutions has created a huge sign out of lightbulbs which simply reads, "OK" Louise Riley’s instillation comprised of mattresses will be part of the conceptual bar. GUARANTEED TO BE ELECTRIC!!!!!!!!!!(Free!`)

The Yip Yips are characters on the popular children's television show Sesame Street. They are interplanetary visitors, presumed to be from the planet Mars who marvel at clocks, telephones and computers. However, Yip Yip is an electronic duo from Florida. For more info: http://www.yip-yip.com/

The Buttons are a local electronic duo bringing you the finest in Post-Synth Acid-Fi Throttlemax Computercore.($8)

A Living Soundtrack (New Orleans) could be one of the best live electronic bands in the country and a must-see for anyone who thinks they know what the New Orleans music scene is all about. “There’s a new sound bubbling out of New Orleans and it doesn’t sound funky. Will the Big Easy be the birthplace of the next decade of rock?” – Jambase.com alivingsoundtrack.com

Chef Menteur (New Orleans) has been confounding people's expectations since they put a monkey in the oval office. Ot-of-phasey psychedelic drifters recently nominated for best local electronic rock act. “Sounds like an instrumental version of Kashmir as performed by Gary Numan” –Aural Innovations. The live lineup of Alec Vance, Dan Haugh, and Brian Abbott with Mike Mayfield may surprise those who last saw the band play live a year ago. http://www.chefmenteur.org

Rat Bastard (Miami): Multi-beer drinking, producer and hoo-ha guitarist by way of Laundry Room Squelchers, To Live and Shave in LA and Scraping Teeth —”Worst Band in America”.

spnlss a.k.a Jon Cohrs (Brooklyn) is a visual/sound artist who recently migrated from Portland (where he worked at Jackpot!), runs a recording business named after his missing spleen, and works for Laurie Anderson.($5)

Chef Menteur has been confounding people's expectations since they shoved a monkey in the oval office. With a saucy brimful of new tunes, the latest lineup of Alec Vance, Dan Haugh, Brian Abbott and Mike Mayfield may surprise those who last saw the band play live a year ago.

Metronome the City has been getting some attention for "Electric Elements Exposed" and been making some interesting sounds that you should hear in person. metronomethecity.com

This year, Noizefest will be selling booze and food and the money will go toward Chris' and Otter's hospital bills

RAIN? Fuck rain. The performance area is a big patio with a BIG roof. We also have three HUUUUGE tarps with which to build a rain/shade cave.
Meaning, even if we have to do it in the house, there will be NOIZE, booze, food, and more NOIZE. (free)

Heavy Metal Parking Lot and Pretenders of the Faith, the most badass Judas Priest tribute band, ever.
Live music and movie night at the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery.
FREE rum drinks and hot dogs.($10.00)

From Bryan: "FYI, Austen and I are playing with Charlie Engstrom for the piece he's doing at McKeown's on Saturday. Short notice, I know.. but this came up on the radar pretty quickly.

Charlie's piece is based on a metronome that counts out time in prime numbers only. He, Austen and I will be improvising along with it. It's a funny idea because it's hard to predict where the beat will fall and playing along/around it will be an interesting challenge. "(free)More info

The cannabis-drenched acoustic drone side project of potpie and friends (including members of Chef Menteur and many others) will be performing an ultra rare live performance, their first in over 2 years. Murmur has had several super limited cd-rs released over the last 7 years and only a handful of live appearances. They will be opening for an amazing guitarist from Tallahasse called Yellow Crystal Star who will appeal to fans of Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Kawabata Mokoto' solo work or much of the Kranky label. Also playing will be Ear is the Brain who is Nepalese and plays minimal acoustic psychedelia.
This is a not to be missed show for afficionados of strange but
beautiful music, please come out and support experimental music in New
Orleans.(free)

An evening of experimental dance and music performed and created by New Orleans artists at the CAC, Friday and Saturday night, May 11th and 12th.
Featuring music by Electrical Spectacle, potpie and Scott Herron.($12)

Bryan Killingsworth performs and records as B. Killingsworth, is half of The Bastard Sons of Morton Subotnick, and has collaborated many times with Chef Menteur. Trey Smith was in Austin minimalist outfit Numbers of the Mast before moving to New Orleans. They have collaborated several times in the past on modular (no keyboard) analog synth and no-input mixing board (pure phase feedback).

Helen Gillet is a locally renowned cellist/vocalist who includes traditional and modern classical sounds as well as French folk songs, jazz and experimental material in her repretoire.

allthatfall is New Orleans native Kevin Gipson. He’ll be doing set of live max/msp manipulations of Rhodes piano, sampled in real-time, and will also incorporate stereo field recordings. (free)

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
Tokyo reports that the 3 headed planet destroyer King Ghidorah has been reported near New Orleans, the infamous noise/doom/drone power trio features a changing roster of BackporchRevolution cronies, this incarnation features potpie on guitar, Jim Yonkus on bass and B. Killing on modular synth. They have only played live two other times and were quickly shut down for being too....well... too everything! Come check out this rare performance of the heaviest band in NewOrleans before they get banned from every venue in town. They are opening for the Creeping Nobodies, a Sonic Youth influenced band from Ontario who are geting some good hype, come out and support bands touring through New Orleans.

Featuring a lineup of all-New Orleans based Backporch Revolution artists who appear on our first compilation, the charity fundraising PROUD TO SWIM HOME. The show and album release happen on the 1-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's arrival in New Orleans. Roster includes Chef Menteur, potpie, B. Killingsworth, and Anton Gussoni (of Electrical Spectacle). Of course, the CD will be for sale, and there will be free stickers and other surprises. All money raised goes to help musicians' charities working to help people affected by the hurricanes, so your support is doubly appreciated. More info

New and experimental music with: B. Killingsworth, Gil San Marcos, and Ferveur Noir.

B. Killingsworth is a Backporch Revolution artist from New Orleans. He is also half of The Bastard Sons of Morton Subotnick and has contributed to Chef Menteur. He will be using modular analog synthesizer played through a mini battery powered amplifier along with unamplified prepared acoustic guitar. He says, "If you like the sound of cicadas, this one is for you."

Gavin Elder comes down from Baltimore to play for all their NOLA friends and will be joined by local bands Chef Menteur, Hexbone Family and Country Fried. This will be after the closing art show for Jimmy Descant, who makes fantastic space travel vehicles out of old vacuum cleaner parts.($5)More info

Chef Menteur returns en force for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. This show will have the full line-up plus new member Dan Haugh on drums and Moog, and they will be performing classic and brand new songs.

Massmvmnt Records invites you to celebrate the release of FCS North's Say Go and Time Promises Power's Tomorrow Grieves Today + the 12"s of ARC & Tubes + the FiTS mix. Live showdowns from FCS North, Scientific American, DJ Collage & Time Promises Power (all the way from New Orleans, first Seattle show!) + the DJ stylings of Fucking in the Streets, Mr. Piccolo & Plastiq Phantom.More info